Welcome to the Norfolk Island Museum's blog. We are lucky to be located in the most beautiful part of a stunning island in the South Pacific. We are a little island, but our history and stories are great - from Polynesian and convict settlements to the home of the Bounty mutineers. Hopefully you'll enjoy our stories.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

James Cook recorded his discovery of Norfolk
Island on 10 October 1774, his journal claims possession and
naming of it on 11 October 1774, that is 240 years ago.

In July 1772 theResolution, commanded by Captain Cook, and the Discovery, commanded by Lieutenant Furneaux, set sail from Britain
towards the Antarctic in search of the Great Southern Continent. The ships became the first known to
have crossed the Antarctic Circle in January 1773 before sailing on to New
Zealand.

After visiting Amsterdam and Middelburg, plus two islands that Cook
called the Friendly Islands now known as the Tongan
group the Resolution and the Discovery were separated and never met
again. Both ships returned separately to New Zealand, the Discovery returning
to Britain
arriving there in July 1774. En-route to New Zealand
the Resolution sailed west and
explored the islands which Cook called the New
Hebrides, now known as Vanuatu.Cook sailed past or visited nearly all the
islands in the group, including Malekula, Tanna and Erromango and then sailed on
to New
Caledonia.

On Monday 10 October 1774
the Resolution was sailing with a
gentle breeze and pleasant weather when an island was discovered. At daybreak
their distance from the island was about 3 leagues.Coming closer to the island they sounded the
bottom and had approximately 22 fathom of water with a sea bed of coral sand
mixed with broken shells.They were off
the north coast of the island now known as Duncombe Bay.

The following day Cook and
some of the officers went ashore to take a view of the Island and its produce,
Cook’s journal reads “We found the Island
uninhabited and near akin to New Zealand, the Flax plant, many other
plantsand Trees common to that country
was found here but the chief produce of the isle is Spruce Pines which grow
here in vast abundance and to a vast size……… Here then is another Isle where
Masts for the largest Ships may be had."

The journal entry for 11
October continues with “I took possession
of this Isle as I had done of all the others we had discovered, and named it Norfolk Isle, in honour
of that noble family.It is situated in
the Latitude of 29°
00’s , Longitude of [168°
16’] East, it is about 5 leagues in circuit of a good height and its shores are
steep and rocky.”

The approach of night
brought them all back on board ship and some hours later the Resolution made for Queen Charlotte
Sound in New Zealand.From there Cook hoped to refresh his people
and put the ship in a ready condition to cross the great ocean to finally
arrive at Portsmouth
in July of 1775.

James Cook became a
national hero, he was presented to the King and made a member of the Royal
Society.Cook’s second voyage of
discovery was one of the greatest journeys of this time. He named our beautiful
Norfolk Isle and charted many other Pacific islands for the first time. He disproved the idea of the Great Southern
Continent and was the first recorded explorer to cross the Antarctic
Circle. Of course this did
not mean retirement for Cook who then went on to his third and final voyage of discovery
the following year.